The conflict of Israel Palestine dates to the end of the 19th century. The Partition Plan of 1947, which is also known as resolution 181 of the UN sought to divide the British mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish States with Jerusalem placed under a special international regime. This plan was a 2-state solution which was rejected by the Arabs. On May 14, 1948, The State of Israel was created, this sparked the first Arab Israeli war. An air attack was launched on Tel Aviv by the Arabs. The war ended in 1949 with Israeli victory. The state of Israel ended up with more land under it than it began with. However, as a result, 7,50,000 Palestinians were displaced and the territory was divided into THREE parts: Israel, Gaza strip, and West Bank.
The second Arab Israeli war also goes by the name ‘The Suez Crisis of 1956’ This was a British-French-Israeli invasion of the Sinai Peninsula infamously known as ‘The tripartite aggression’. The tension between the states remained until advent of the 6-day war in 1967 also known as the Third Arab Israeli war. Palestinian guerrilla attacks on Israel from bases in Syria led to increased hostility between the two countries.  Israel, surrounded and fearing an Arab attack was imminent, launched what it felt was a pre-emptive strike against the three Arab states on June 5, 1967.
Israeli forces captured the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank of the Jordan River, Old City of Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. 6 years later, in what is referred to as the Yom Kippur war, The Ramadan war or The October war, Syria and Egypt launched a surprise 2 Front attack on Israel to regain their lost territory. This came to be known as the Fourth Arab Israeli war. This conflict did not result in significant victory for any of its parties but Egyptian President Anwar al Sadat made Egypt a self-declared victor.
Before going further, let us look at Israel’s territorial disputes with its neighbours:
West Bank: The West Bank is sandwiched between Israel and Jordan. One of its major cities is Ramallah, the de facto administrative capital of Palestine. Israel took control of it in the 1967 war and has over the years established settlements there.
Gaza: The Gaza Strip located between Israel and Egypt. Israel occupied the strip after 1967, but relinquished control of Gaza City and day-to-day administration in most of the territory during the Oslo peace process. In 2005, Israel unilaterally removed Jewish settlements from the territory, though it continues to control international access to it.
Golan Heights: The Golan Heights is a strategic plateau that Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 war. Israel effectively annexed the territory in 1981. Recently, the USA has officially recognized Jerusalem and Golan Heights as a part of Israel.
Finally in 1979, following a series of ceasefires and peace negotiations, Israeli and Egyptian representatives signed the Camp David Accords, a peace treaty that ended a 30-year conflict. However, these accords only improved relations between Israel and its neighbours and the question of Palestinian self-governance remained unsolved.
In 1987, Thousands of Palestinians residing in the west bank rose up in protest resulting in the first intifada. The Oslo accords of 1993 mediated this conflict by setting up a framework for the Palestinians to govern themselves in the west bank and Gaza. The 2nd Oslo accords of 1995 expanded on the first agreement, adding provisions that made Israel themselves withdraw from over 6 cities in the west bank.
While it may seem that the recent accords have successfully reduced tensions, the 2nd intifada of 2000 would tell you otherwise. Palestinians launched the second intifada that would last for half a decade and in response, Israel went against the International Court of Justice by making a barrier wall surrounding the west bank in 2002. The already tense situations worsened, factionalism flared in 2006 when Hamas won the parliamentary elections in Palestine. Between 2006 and 2011, a series of failed peace talks and armed confrontations between Hamas and Fatah took place which culminated in an agreement to reconcile.
Task for you
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Motion to Consider: This House Argues that international intervention has exacerbated rather than alleviated the Israel-Palestine conflict. What possible proposition/opposition arguments could be formed for the above motion?
~Krita Gupta, Trainer
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